Friday Focus with a little Halloween fun ….


Men will probably see more of the humor in this, but I’ve shopped with my girls enough that I understand the sentiment.
In return, here’s one I think the ladies will like.

Colin Powell was a Great American



I’m not the only one who reflects on the life of service of Colin Powell and sees a man of integrity and honor. Millions were disappointed when he chose not to run for President, although we also understood his reluctance to be flayed on the cutting board of American politics.
In What I Learned from Colin Powell, Time magazine published an insightful tribute to General Powell from Marc Benioff, the co-owner of Time and CEO of Salesforce. It is worthy of your attention.

Looking for Better Focus?

In our Monday quote, we talked about our lack of focus … and I promised we would examine the decline of our ability to focus and identify some practical solutions to improve it.
In How to retrain your frazzled brain and find your focus again, you’ll be introduced to an insightful source to get this started.
 It’s a good place to get started.

“Dr Amishi Jha is a professor of cognitive and behavioural neuroscience at the University of Miami and an expert in the science of attention. She has written a book called Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day, a four-week training programme based on her research showing how simple mindfulness exercises carried out by people with high-demand jobs, such as soldiers, elite athletes and emergency medics, improve many aspects of cognitive and emotional health, including strengthening our attention.”



I’ve been a big fan of MasterClass and a member since 2016. I’ve watched portions of 16 courses and taken 141 lessons so far. so I found this article from the New Yorker, Can MasterClass Teach You Everything, as one more unctuous and undeserved takedown of a successful platform.
The subhead declares that “The company promises transformation in a few hours”, but I don’t think that’s true at all. What MasterClass DOES DO is offer video series on a wide range of topics from successful practitioners of a particular art of skill.
What each instructor “teaches” is what they know about their craft, and there’s little debate about their talent.
Do you doubt that James Cameron knows a lot about filmmaking … or that Gordon Ramsey knows about cooking, or Yo-Yo Ma understands music. Is there any question that James Patterson, David Mamet and Malcolm Gladwell, to name a few, don’t know a lot about writing in different genres?
Instead of giving where credit is due, The New Yorker decided to dump a few barrels of ink on a misinformed and biased opinion piece.

When did the Age of Discovery Really Begin?

You may have seen articles about several recent discoveries that are changing the way we see history.
In Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021, a case is made that the Vikings were in North America in 1021, long before current history books have dated the arrival of Europeans. 
Likewise in An Extraordinary 500-Year-Old Shipwreck Is Rewriting the History of the Age of Discovery, transatlantic exploration is documented as beginning long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic.
If you’re a history buff or interested in some of the science used to uncover these details, you’ll enjoy these articles.

Trick or Treat my little goblins ….


For starters … From Wider Corn Mazes to Virtual Haunted Houses, Halloween Looks Different This Year.
Next, How the Vampire Got His Fangs.
And … if you’re looking for a little desert, this might sound tasty … Minneapolis’s Bebe Zito Ice Cream Shop Is Serving Up a Hannibal Lecter-Inspired Treat—Complete With Chunks of Braised Veal Brains.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Peter Sitov

    Lary, Thanks for sharing the Colin Powell article. Really a great reminder how someone puts optimism to work to make the world a better place. Powell was a man of commitment but also one of reason. Hopefully his legacy lives in leaders across the world.

    1. Lary Kirchenbauer

      I couldn’t agree more, Pete. We could sure use a few more like him.

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